Men Die In Crash

Instructor and Student Crash in Leesburg

Two Loudoun County men died in a plane crash off of Sycolin Road in Leesburg Wednesday morning.

Leesburg’s Executive Airport based AV-ED flight school’s Craig Matthew Schulz, 24, of Middleburg, and his student, Peter Campbell Jesinsky, 43, of Purcellville, died because of the impact of the crash.

The Virginia State Police Department, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and the Loudoun County Fire Department were first to arrive at the accident. Virginia State Police’s Sgt. Terry Licklider said no distress call was made before the crash.

"We were told that the plane had taken off at Leesburg Airport earlier that morning. It flew to Winchester and came back to land at Leesburg Airport," Licklider said. "Once we got there, we had one witness who told us when the plane was approaching to land, it went off on its right side. It appeared to take a nose dive into the woods near the First Baptist Church in Leesburg."

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the accident.

"We were told that the student driver, Mr. Jesinsky, was piloting the plane. However, the National Transportation Safety Board said that it is not for sure because of the position of the bodies in the plane. It was a pretty severe impact. The plane nose-dived," Licklider said.

The plane was a Piper Warrior PA 28-161, said NTSB air safety investigator Brian Reyner.

"The plane crash took place right off of airport property," Reyner said. "Who was piloting the plane has not been determined."